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Tuesday, 7 August 2012

United Friends Challenge #255 - Ants

Celticfrog's Challenge

Write a story using the following two words ...

MunificentUbiquitous

You can use any form of the words, and write any kind of story.Poetry is good as long as it tells a story

Ant No. 1 felt a prickling in his feelers that he had not felt for a long time. Something sugary and at the same time a spark of tang was in the air. He decided to call his scouts together for an investigation.

“Soldiers No. 150 through to 210 are you ready, I have a job.”

“Yessir”, they said in unison, always ready to obey, they did not know anything else.

“Out there in the place where the giants live, there is something ready to be plundered. You know the routine, you are to form one ubiquitous mass and investigate. If possible, samples should be brought for further examination.”

“Your command is our wish” they answered in one loud chorus and they started to march in an organised column.

Ant No. 1 waited in his lair for them to return. After a few minutes they were back, each ant having a sticky yellow mass on his feet and smeared on his feelers.

“It seems that the giants have prepared a food and left it on a surface. We took a walk through it and collected some particles on the way.”

Ant No. 1 used his feelers to collect some samples from his scouts. “This is ideal formics (this name was used in the ant colonies) I am sure our Queen will be satisfied with the loot.”

The ants then filed into the centre of the nest where the Queen was preening herself. She did not look very happy.

“Madam, we have found something to satisfy your appetite” said Ant No. 1.

“About time” she answered “I have so many children to feed and not enough food. So give me what you have. I have been waiting long enough.”

The ant troop brought their loot, and the Queen digested it in a few minutes, and afterwards laid another 300 eggs.

“So bring me more” she said.

What the Queen commanded was done, so Ant No. 1 called his scouts together, about one thousand in number, and told them to prepare for a looting mission. They must bring as much food as they could carry.

The marching steps of ant feet could be heard as they went on their way.

“Look at that” called ant No. 570 to his colleagues. “That is fantastic. I think it is known as lemon tart amongst the giants.”

“I don’t care what it is called” answered ant No. 623 “we have to get to work.” The ants started to swarm over the lemon tart absorbing what they could, until there was suddenly a noise like an explosion to the ant’s senses. The giants had discovered them.

Yes there were many fallen soldiers on that day, but some of the ants managed to squeeze themselves into cracks and fissures in the surroundings, waiting until there was a pause in the slaughter. A messenger ant ran back to Ant No. 1 as fast as his six legs could carry him to tell of the catastrophe that had occurred.

“No problem” was the answer. An ant was never sad about ant losses in battle. “We have another thousand ants in the nest.”

So the messenger ant returned to the lemon tart followed by another thousand ants. On the way some were mislead. They found tins containing a sweet smelling fluid which they entered to see if it was good enough for the Queen to eat. Afterwards they continued on their way to phase two of the invasion, climbing over the bodies of the ants that were deemed never to return again.

Eventually the munificent ants had given a considerable amount of lemon tart to the Queen ant. She was delighted and laid another 200 eggs. This could have been a happy end.

Unfortunately the ants that stopped on the way to examine the fluid in the tins had been caught in a trap by the giants. The fluid was dangerous for ants and they contaminated the nest with it. One by one the ants in the nest died.

It could have been a sad ending, but one ant managed to escape before being poisoned. Luckily it was a queen ant, just a few stones away from the previous nest. After a while she had laid a few hundred eggs and felt hungry. It was then that she called Ant No. 1 to her chamber requesting that he would send his scouts to" examine the possibility of finding food. It just so happened that one of the giants on that day had baked an apple pie.

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About Me

Grew up in the East End of London, which means I am a cockney. After a commercial course at school and working around the city of London as shorthand-typist, I moved over to Switzerland and worked 2 years in an import export company in Zürich. Moved on to work for Robert Bosch in Solothurn and met Mr. Swiss. 2 children later and many years I am still in Switzerland. In the meanwhile worked for 30 years for a Swiss machine tool company as export clerk, am bilingual (english/German(Swiss German), speak French, Italian, Russian. Am now retired and enjoying my hobbies, photography, writingm Tai Chi and looking after 3 cats that decided to move in with me.